>> pelley: good evening. the official word from the government won't come until tomorrow but we can tell you tonight that if you are one of the 55 million americans on social security you will be getting a raise in january. the first in three years. that's welcome news for retirees who the government says mostly rely on social security for a majority of their income and the raise comes at a time when seniors have seen prices go up while retirement nest egg have shrunk and the value of homes has fallen. wyatt andrews tells us how much of a raise they'll be getting. wyatt? >> reporter: scott, this is an average but the social security raise we expect to be announced for next january will be around $38 a month. for the tens of millions of retirees who have had no cost of living raise for the last three years, it's real money and it's about time is when seniors heard the news in miami, this was the response. jose perez says the increase

will help him pay his utility bill. >> with the increase in social security i will be able to have heat and cold whenever i need it. >> reporter: social security is expected to announce a cola-- a cost of living adjustment-- of around 3.5%. it's the first increase since 2009. seniors receiving the average benefit of $1,082 a month would receive an extra $37.84. for retirees dependent on social security, $38 a month can be a lifesaver. david asher counsels retirees at the center for jewish family services in los angeles. >> well, it can be a difference between food and rent. or between going to the doctor or cutting back on their prescription drugs or getting prescription drugs. it can be a matter of life and death for some people. >> reporter: seniors have also lost ground in the last two years because of extremely low interest rates. for shirley sink wits, a retiree from georgia, it ban double hit.

no raise in social security and almost no return on savings. >> we depent on the earnings from our investments and that's been cut to almost nothing. >> reporter: the increase for seniors by law will be paid for by a hike in payroll taxes so there should be no hit to the deficit. but despite this raise, advocates for senior citizens remain angry about the years of no increases, saying the very way the cost of living gets calculating needs fundamental reform. >> pelley: well, wyatt, to that point, gas prices and food prices were way up in 2010 and 2011. why was there no increase then? >> scott, you're right. seniors were hit hard by that and it all goes back to the way the law was written. it's tied to the consumer price index for wage earners which many senior citizens are not. so seniors are advocating that the consumer price index be more weighted on the things that they spend on, specifically transportation and health care. >> pelley: wyatt, thank you very much. when the storyñr first broke toy we asked our researchers to tell us who gets social security

checks and we were surprised to see that about a third are under the age of 65. they're disabled or the families of the disabled and survivors of deceased workers. it comes the nearly 17 million under retirement age on social security. among those not getting a raise tonight are congressmen. not a raise in campaign contributions, anyway. in fact, it's quite the opposite. have a look at this. in the third quarter of 2007, congressional reelection campaigns took in $201 million in contributions. our washington bureau crunched the numbers for the third quarter of this year and it's just $69 million. maybe unemployed folks can't give so much. we asked nancy cordes to tell us more. >> reporter: this is ha disgraceful moment! >> reporter: as congress clashed over the debt, americans closed their wallets sending a powerful message to incumbents, particularly the new ones. of the 87 new house republicans

who swept the g.o.p. into power in 2010, 55 raised far less than republican officials say they need to win. bringing in less than $200,000 each this summer. many of the cash-poor freshmen come from swing district where they will face tough fights for reelection. like lou barletta of pennsylvania who raised $100,000. and annie buerkle of new york, $89,000. >> don't become washington. >> reporter: many of these new g.o.p. freshmen came to congress vowing to avoid politics as usual, including the endless fund-raising. >> let this serve as a warning to congress. we don't work for you, you work for us. >> reporter: but republicans will need to hold on to at least 25 of those new seats if they want to retain control of the house. >> there's definitely cause for worry. >> reporter: why is it so important to have money if

you've got a good message. >> you have to get the message out. people get their news and their message from outlets like television, like the internet, like radio and through the mail and none of that stuff is free. >> reporter: the 11 freshmen democrats didn't raise much, either, bringing in an average of $140,000 each this summer. and congressional fund-raising will only get more challenging as the presidential campaign heats up, attracting small donors with limited funds who might other weiss give that money, scott, to congressional candidates. >> reporter: nancy, thank you, that campaign is heating up with the republican debate in las vegas tonight and president obama continuing his bus tour of north carolina and virginia. chief white house correspondent norah o'donnell is with the president in emporia, virginia, and has more about his southern strategy. norah? >> scott, make no mistake, if the president wants to win these two southern states again he'll

need blacks and hispanics. the president will need a turnout like that again in 2012. freedom rural southern virginia packed a high school gymnasium in emporia to hear president obama argue he is doing everything he can to get america back to work. >> there are too many of our fellow americans who are hurting too many to just sit by and do nothing. >> reporter: mr. obama drove african americans to the polls in 2008 and won 92% of the black vote. one of those voters was candice pitts who we met today in emporia. >> somebody needs to bring some jobs here. >> reporter: upset that friends and neighbors are outover work, candice says her vote is not guaranteed in 2012. >> i can say right now that no one right now can count on my vote. no one. not a republican, democrat, no one. because i'm still undecided. it's too many issues that i

think need to be addressed and i'm just going to wait a little bit and see. >> reporter: and listen to the president try to appeal to independent-minded voters earlier today in jamestown, north carolina, as he presented himself as the president of the people not of one party. >> i'm not the democratic president or a republican president i'm the president. (cheers and applause) >> reporter: it's that type of bipartisan appeal that has been magic with independent voters and the president won independents here in virginia in the last election, now more than half disapprove of the job he's doing. >> pelley: norah, thank you very much. the deal is done in israel. in a controversial prisoner swap five years in the making, a young israeli soldier captured by palestinian militants is back home tonight but mark phillips reports the price of his freedom was astonishingly high. >> reporter: he looked frail and

pale and unsteady and at times bewildered but most importantly gilad shalit looked free. they looked defiant. the first few hundred of the more than one thousand palestinian prisoners to be freed from israeli jails. they were welcomed back as heroes. this massively lopsided prisoner swap was a carefully choreographed exchange. first shalit delivered to egyptian mediators by the leadership of hamas. the people who had ordered the cross-border raid that had captured the israeli soldier more than five years ago. but before he was handed over to the israelis, an egyptian interview that wasn't part of the deal. >> gilad shalit, you look fine. how are you? >> i'm very excited. >> reporter: but also very gaunt and seeming to struggle for breath saying he had feared spending many more years as a prisoner. only once shalit was free were the palestinian prisoners

released. many into gaza, to a massive welcoming crowd. they may be terrorists in israel but they're celebrities here. and several threatened to capture more israeli soldiers. the evidence is it works. gilad shalit had a different hero's welcome, saluting the prime minister who had paid such a high price for his freedom. hugging the father whoxd had lea tenacious campaign to get his son home. the release of gilad shalit removes a major thorn from the side of israeli/palestinian relations but whether it represents a breakthrough is another matter. there's no sign of that. instead, whatever the joy here, the deal may have strengthened the hands of the hamas militants in gaza strip. shalit's tough negotiations have secured the release of a thousand prisoners that more moderate non-violent palestinian leadership could not. mark phillips, cbs news mitze

hila, israel. >> reporter: secretary of state hillary clinton was unusually blunt today during an unannounced visit to libya. she said that the united states hopes moammar qaddafi is captured or killed soon. clinton almost promised... also promised libya's new government $11 million in aid. second hand television. america's baby doctors say your t.v. viewing may be hurting your children. the u.s. has deported a record number of people in the past year and we'll give you a rare look inside that process and a storm in a drought. it was raining dust in lubbock, texas, when the cbs news continues. the employee of the month isss... the new spark card from capital one. spark miles gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. the spark card earns double miles... so we really had to up our game. with spark, the boss earns double miles

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[ sponge ] so it's not a chore. than these gas relievers. these you take after food gives you gas, you take beano before, so you don't get gas. and if you don't get gas, maybe you don't need these. take beano before and there'll be no gas. >> pelley: american children watch a lot of t.v. and according to a study the average child under the age of two watches one to two hours everyday. today america's pediatricians says children in that age group should not be watching any t.v. or videos and their parents should cut back on viewing as well. we asked dr. jon lapook what's behind the recommendations. >> we are going to play mickey mouse clubhouse. ready? >> yes. >> reporter: when it comes to television and her two-year-old son ari, nyla cam lech believes less is more. she allows just 20 minutes a day.

>> it kind of turns off their brain a little bit. they're not actually having to think. they're not actually having to experience and learn things. >> reporter: the american academy of pediatrics says there's no proven educational benefit in television for kids under the age of two. in fact, under n this age group, steve linked to short-term language delays and possible attention issue. research also suggest television watched by adults can distract children playing in the same room. dr. laura jana serves on the committee that studied the issue. >> the fact of the matter is there is no proven educational benefit for these sorts of programs for children under the age of two. >> reporter: it's unclear if television directly harms the developing brain. but the panel of experts says at the very least it takes away time better spent interacting with the real world. >> children-- very young children and even older children-- learn better and do better with three dimensional interactions. i'm not talking about three dimensional movies, i'm talking about real life interactions

with adults, other parents and their caregivers. >> reporter: the u.s. video children d.v.d. market is huge. a $5 billion industry in 2004 with $100 million spent on developmental videos targeting infants and toddlers but today's recommendation suggests there's no video short cut to improving a young child's brain. >> pelley: jon, thanks very much. we're making some progress, it turns out, in the fight against heart disease. a report out today says the number of older americans admitted to hospitals with heart failure in the past decade dropped nearly 30%. researchers say this may be the result of better medical care. the unlikely car smuggled across state lines. why it's costing taxpayers billions of dollars next. citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal.

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all you have to do is call. [ female announcer ] call allstate now and you'll get a free lifetime membership in good hands roadside assistance. [ dennis ] shop less. get more. make one call to an allstate agent. >> pelley: for months we've been telling you about states struggling to make ends meet. it turns out some states are losing billions of dollars to smugglers in an illegal trade that can be more profitable than drug dealing. bob orr went inside one police investigation to show us a crime right under our noses. >> reporter: on interstate 95 at the virginia/maryland border, police are closing in on a suspected smuggler. >> let's go ahead and move him over now. >> reporter: he's not running drugs but something even more profitable. >> open the trunk. >> reporter: inside the car, police find 12 cases of cigarettes.

3,600 packs bought in virginia and likely destined to be resold illegally in new york. jeff kelly is in charge of the anti-smuggling efforts in maryland. >> there are people who make a living out of smuggling cigarettes and by that i mean van loads and truckloads worth of cigarettes and the amount of money is phenomenal. tens of thousands of dollars in any particular run somebody may make. >> reporter: smugglers buy carloads of cigarettes in low-tax states like north carolina and virginia for about $4 a pack them sell them in high-tax states like new york for up to $12 a pack. since the bootleggers are not paying the high new york taxes, they pocket easy money, selling their cigarettes on the street or in mom-and-pop convenience stores. this one carload, for example, would have brought $30,000 in illegal profits. >> this is becoming the new organized crime. the new prohibition. >> reporter: we took a drive down the i-95 smuggling route with a.t.f. agent rich marianos.

>> everyday we see more and more criminal organizations utilizing illegal cigarettes to facilitate their operations. >> reporter: it's those criminal organizations and violent gangs the a.t.f. is targeting. in this sting, members of a philadelphia street crew traded a bundle of marijuana for cartons of cigarettes to undercover agents posing as dealers. after gaining their trust, the agents then helped the gang plot an armed robbery of a competing smuggler. the gang members were all arrested, convicted, and sentenced to long prison terms. so drug dealers actually bring you cocaine in exchange for cigarettes because they can make more money on the cigarettes? >> absolutely. in many occasions we'll have a narcotics dealer brick us firearms and narcotics to train for contraband cigarettes, untaxed singh aive thes. it's extremely lucrative. >> reporter: how lucrative? the u.s. justice department estimates state and local

governments are losing $5 billion a year from untaxed cigarettes being sold on the black market. but police know they're only catching a fraction of the smugglers. >> so last year you confiscated a million dollars worth of cigarettes bootlegs? >> right. >> how many millions are getting past you? >> we don't know. i couldn't tell you for sure. >> reporter: weak laws are part of the problem. unless guns or drugs are involved smuggling penalties are light. the two men arrested in this stop if convicted face a maximum of two years in prison. bob orr, cbs news, annapolis, maryland. >> pelley: now look at what came down the road in lubbock, texas. an 8,000 foot high cloud of dust envelope it had city yesterday. in a matter of minutes as sunny day turned into rust-tinted darkness. the storm pushed through with hurricane force winds that tipped over plains at lubbock international airport and knocked out power to thousands. a flight home on a private jet that none of the passengers wants to take.

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it's amazing what soup can do. i'm not a line item on a budget. and i'm definitely not a pushover. but i am a voter. so washington... before you even think about cutting my medicare and social security benefits... here's a number you should remember. 50 million. we are 50 million seniors who earned our benefits... and you will be hearing from us... today and on election day. ♪ >> pelley: one story that really caught our attention today came from immigration and customs enforcement. in the past year, that agency says it has deported nearly 400,000 people.

that's a record. so what happens when someone is kicked out of the u.s.? seth doane followed one man on a long trip home. >> reporter: tell me what you're feeling right now? >> my heart is pounding. >> reporter: after 13 years in the united states, ivis lopez has just three hours left here. because he's being forced to leave and taking just legal papers, a bible, and the clothes on his back and leaving behind so much more. >> my kids. >> reporter: angelina is three, daughter natalia just two. both are u.s. citizens. they, along with his american fiance, will all stay in florida while lopez is deported. >> sometimes i start crying because i'm losing everything, basically. >> reporter: on this night, lopez is one of about 80 hondurans to be sent home. >> the average length of stay here is 30 days. >> reporter: randall henderson with immigration and customs enforcement, or ice, runs this sprawling detention facility in

pearsall, texas, where illegal immigrants are processed before they're deported. as many as 120 at a time. on this date, detainees from 64 countries fill the cells. >> we have approximately 38% of the detainees have known criminal backgrounds. 62% of the detainees are here for immigration violations. >> reporter: ivis lopez has both. convicted of drug possession charges and deported once before. why keep coming back? >> for my kids. >> reporter: lopez and the other hondurans board what's called ice air, a virtual airline run by the u.s. government that flies anywhere in the world. 160,000 people were deported by these private charters last year at the cost of about $750 each. that's around $120 million. >> i really don't know what to do once i get there. so i even got a headache just to

think about everything, like what i'm going do. >> reporter: landing in honduras those once in shackles walk free. but ivis lopez hardly feels liberated. he heads to visit his blind grandmother, the only family he has here. but it's clear lopez's mind is already on another reunion. >> i'm going spend some time with my grandma and then just go back. >> reporter: back to the u.s.? >> yeah. >> reporter: that would be his third trip back to america, one of the 11 million undocumented migrants in the u.s. they're part of an endless cycle of immigration and deportation. seth doane, cbs news, san pedro sue lashgs honduras. >> pelley: and that's the "cbs evening news." for all of us at cbs news all around the world, good night.

now "entertainment tonight," the most watched entertainment ne newsmagazine in the world. how much do the dancing stars weigh? >> richard simmons is back for "e.t." with hiss scale. >> amazing how richard simmons travels with a scale. the pounds are coming off and i'm going to judge to see how many pounds they all lost. i can't believe i'm going to say this, you look great. >> who has lost the